The Really Big and Shiny, Spinny Thing
by Alison16
Summary: Curiosity leads James and Lily to a really good date. Pure fluff.


The Really Big and Shiny, Spinny Thing

It was a day ago, when James was flying in the air with Sirius, he spotted a large wheel in the distance. Curious but not too curious about it, he decided to check it again later, because at that moment Sirius was beating him to the Snitch.

When it got darker out, James returned to check on the large wheel again, and this time it was lit up with bright lights, and was in fact slowly spinning.

He zoomed back down to the ground where Lily was having tea with his mum and said, "There's a big wheel thingy, spinning in the distance over there with lights. D'you have any idea what it might be?" he asked Lily, pointing towards the west.

Lily looked at him with an amused and confused expression, "A big, spinning wheel thingy that's lit up?" he nodded, "I-I," she thought for a bit before she laughed, "Wait do you mean a Ferris wheel?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking you," he sighed at her rather rudely.

"Right," she chuckled as she magically snapped a quill and a piece of parchment into her hands, quickly sketching a picture of a Ferris wheel. "Does it look like this?"

"Yes! It looks _just _like that! What is it?" he asked excitedly.

"Like I said, it's a Ferris wheel. There must be a carnival in the muggle town." she said simply.

"A- what?"

"A carnival," she pondered for a definition, "It's a big muggle gathering where people come and play games, and eat food and ride on things like the Ferris wheel. It's purely for entertainment."

"Sounds perfect for a date," Mrs. Potter said, smiling brightly at Lily, "Why don't the two of you go?"

James smiled and looked at Lily, waggling his eyebrows.

Lily laughed, "And leave you alone in the Manor, Mrs. Potter?"

"Alone? I won't be alone, Lily. There's a dozen house elves here to keep me company. For sure, Marlene and Sirius will be running around the house, too. And McKinnon Manor is just across the yard," she pointed towards the other Manor across the field like yard, "I am certainly not alone. The two of you need time together, love. Go show James the carnival. Take some time off from here."

"What do you say, Evans? You, me and the really big and shiny, spinny thingy?" he asked, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows.

Both women rolled their eyes and shook their heads, "I can see why it took you so long to see him through," Mrs. Potter sighed, "And you," she frowned at James, "Where's all that Potter charm you and your father gloat about! I'll be going in now," she said, rising from her chair and entering the Manor.

Lily grinned, bidding Mrs. Potter a, "Good night," and looked up at James from her seat, "You _really _want to go to the carnival? Where everything's completely muggle?"

He shrugged, "You went to the Ministry's summer ball a few weeks ago for me. That was purely wizard. I think it's my turn to see the 'other world,'" he grinned.

Lily smiled, "Alright, It's a date."

**~~O~~**

"And a large teddy bear for Miss Freckles!" the man in the white and red striped clothes cheered, who Lily called 'carnies'.

"Thank you, sir," James smiled as he took the big, fluffy, soft teddy bear wearing a red bow tie from the carnie.

Turning around to his date, he smiled at her smugly and handed her the bear.

"You're a cheater," she said to him, as she took the bear from his hand, held his other and began leading him away from the balloon dart stand.

James gasped, put his hand on his chest and feigned surprise, "Me? A cheater? Lily, I-I, I can't believe my own _girlfriend_, my own lover, the woman who will carry my army of Potter children-"

"Woah woah, army?" Lily laughed.

"-Accuses me of cheating? I-I am hurt. _Wounded. _I," he paused for effect, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "I think I need a kiss to heal my wound."

"Uh no," Lily laughed again, "I don't kiss cheaters," she grinned at him with equal smugness.

"You had my wand!"

"Shut up, would you?" she said slapping a hand onto his mouth, stopping them from walking, "Someone might hear you!"

She felt him smirk against her palm and then felt his tongue lick it.

"James!" she gasped, her hand flying away from his mouth and then wiping it onto his shirt.

He laughed and tugged her to him, "I swear I didn't. For the first dozen at least. I only cheated for the last three because I was _so_ close to winning."

"Hmm," Lily pouted and rolled her eyes, "That's not something I should be hearing from the former Gryffindor team captain."

He smiled down at her and rubbed the small of her back, "Good thing you can keep a secret," he kissed her lips softly.

"No more cheating," she whispered.

"It was _only _a direction charm," he whined as Lily began walking again, her hand back in his.

"Only," she snorted, "But I do have to give you credit, your non verbal spells are coming quite clean."

"Not clean enough," he pouted, "You still knew I used one."

She only shrugged.

They walked around the carnival for a while, James gazing at the extravagant rides, odd food and the even more odd looking people; women with beards, men in lizard costumes, _clowns_, and hummed along to the spritzy music_._ Lily enjoyed watching James's facial expressions switch from humoured and confused.

They've been at the carnival for hours now, arriving around four in the afternoon, and now the sky was dark and stars littered the blackness. They've been on a few rides, played dozens of games and eaten hot-dogs, tons of bags of popcorn, and now James was yearning to eat the pink fluffy cloud on a stick, he's seen so many children eating.

"Please, Lily, all the kids are eating it! It _has _to be good!" he begged, tugging on her arm towards the man working behind the magical cloud making machine.

A little girl gave him a strange look as she passed by them.

"For Merlin's sake, James, it just cotton candy," she rolled her eyes.

"Does it just come in pink?" he asked ignoring her comment.

She sighed, "It also comes in blue. You can mix the two if you'd like."

"No way," he gasped. He reached into his pocket for some muggle change, "How much is it?"

Lily laughed as James pulled out a banknote, "It's not _that _much."

"That kind of sorcery? Surely it is."

She smiled shaking her head, "Fifty euro cents, love, the biggest gold one."

"I can read," he muttered, "Would you like one, too?"

"No thanks, I think I've had enough junk today."

"_Do not_ categorize the hot-dogs as junk, Lily Evans. They're _amazing._" James argued as he paid for the cotton candy. "And so is this," he oozed as he nibbled on the pink and blue cloud, "How could you have not introduced me to this muggle delicacy any sooner?"

Lily laughed, shaking her head, "You're a child, James Potter, an absolute child."

James grinned down at her as she looked ahead, still shaking her head and smiling. This was their first actual date since they graduated from Hogwarts, which was at least a month ago.

And even though Lily lived with him, his mom and Sirius at Potter Manor (considering after her parents' death, Petunia _refused _to take her in) the two of them never got any time alone together. They couldn't sleep together, like they had at school, and Marlene was always a backyard away, Sirius and Mrs. Potter were always only a room from them. They didn't have any time for just the two of them.

But he felt great now, he really missed this. Just the two of them, her small hand, intertwining her soft, dainty fingers into his rough, calloused ones. There were tons of people around them, but no one that would really disturb them.

He was taken away from his admiration of this night when he saw _the _really big and shiny, spinny thingy.

"Lily," he gasped.

"Hmmm?"

"Look," he pointed to the large red wheel.

"Oh," she sighed.

"Let's go on it!"

Lily bit her lip, "It's getting late don't you think? Your mum might be looking for us."

"Lily, it's a quarter past ten," he chuckled, "Mum's already out like a light. C'mon, let's go!"

"I-I-"

"Isn't that what brought us here! Let's go!"

"I-"

"Please," he begged.

"Erm, okay," Lily frowned a bit as James tugged her towards the really big and shiny, spinny thingy.

**~~O~~**

"You should've told me you were afraid of heights," James chuckled as he looked at Lily, whose hands were clasped over her face, her body tucked in closely to his. He wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly.

"But you wanted to go on it so bad," she whined into his side.

James laughed, "How did I _not _know about your fear of heights? You're my girlfriend for Godric's sake!"

Lily groaned, "It's embarrassing isn't it? My boyfriend was the bloody team captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. You would've thought his girlfriend would know how to fly or at least not fear something as stupid as heights," she groaned.

James chuckled again and rubbed her back, "Lily, you can open your eyes, love, we've yet to move. We're not even a yard above the platform," and as he said it, the ride suddenly moved them upward and Lily let out a loud groan as she dug her head into James's underarm. James smiled and gently tugged her out from his armpits and to his chest, "Nothing to be afraid of, love, I'm here and you don't have to prove it by smelling my rose like pits." The wheel stopped as it let on another passenger onto the cab beneath them.

"Bloody hell, James," she grumbled rather angrily, despite the fact that her arms were wrapped around his torso rather tightly, "_Now_ is not the time to mock me, _at all_." The wheel jerked forward and she whimpered, "I think I'm going to be sick."

James sighed, trying _very _hard not to laugh again, and gently pushed her so she was an inch or two away from him. Her eyes were still shut tight and she was biting on her lip _hard_. "Lily, love, stop that," he whispered, "You've got _absolutely _nothing to be afraid of because _I'm right here_. Open your eyes and let go of your lip before your face breaks, and what a waste that would be. C'mon, love, open your eyes."

Lily sighed and slowly opened her eyes right as the wheel came to halt. She gasped and grabbed onto James's arm tightly.

When their cab came to a still, Lily gasped and closed her eyes even tighter again as she covered her face with her free hand, "Bloody hell, we're almost at the top."

"We're far from the top," James mumbled, pushing her hands off her face and cradling it, "If you forgot, we've got magic and if anything bad were to happen to us we could easily just apparate out of here," he chuckled.

James grinned as Lily's eyelids opened up to reveal emerald orbs that just caught the moonlight. She sighed and loosened her grip on his arm, "Sorry 'bout that."

"It's fine, I could barely feel it with all this muscle in the way," he joked, kissing her briefly on her cheek.

Lily rolled her eyes, almost forgetting where they were. She took a deep breath, let it out and leaned back into her seat, resting her head on James's shoulder, "Are you enjoying yourself at least?" she asked him, her voice shaking.

"I'm _definitely _enjoying myself," James smirked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "I've got some dirt on you now."

"Biggot," Lily mumbled, closing her eyes, "Really though, James, I'm sorry I can't enjoy this bloody invention from Salazar himself with you."

James shrugged, "It's actually really okay, Lily," he kissed the her temple, "I've had a wonderful evening," he said smiling.

"I did, too- BLOODY HELL, WE REALLY ARE AT THE TOP NOW," she shrieked. Her eyes were wide and her breathing quickened as she held James's arm tightly.

"Lily," James panicked at her panicking a little, "Breathe."

"What if we fall and our wands roll out of this bloody cab and we can't save ourselves and what if we fall too fast, too fast to apparate- Bloody hell, James, we're going to _die_. The cab is going to- Oh god no- not like this, I don't want to go like this. Please no. Oh, James. I should've known this wasn't safe. I'm so sorry I ever attracted your attention to this. Bloody hell, this is the end isn't it? We're in for it now, aren't we? I just want you to know, James, I really really love you and I don't know how to show that now in our last few minutes- SECONDS- alive, but I really do-"

"I've got an idea how," James whispered in her ear, interrupting her rambling as he pressed a kiss to her lips.

His kiss was soft and slow and gentle, but so passionate. Lily couldn't remember the last time he's kissed her like this, but truth be told, she couldn't really her name for that matter.

It took her a while to catch on to the kiss, but James didn't seem to have mind as his lips moved languidly against hers. She snapped out of her daze when he ran his tongue over her bottom lip and she could feel the sweet bastard grinning against her mouth. But she disregarded that for a bit as she responded by gasping and opening her mouth for his, reaching behind his neck to hook her arms around him. She felt one of James's hand rub the small of her back, _her spot_, making her sigh while the other raked through her hair.

After what felt like centuries, for some blasted reason, James gently pulled away. He was grinning at her, and she could only imagine what she looked like. James let her know.

"You're a bit flushed, love, and your hair's all over the place. Here, let me help you fix your blouse. Hmm, your lips are a bit swollen," he only shrugged and rubbed his thumb against her lips.

Then the cab came to a halt, and Lily looked out their window to see that she was a little higher than leveled with the food tent a few yards away.

"Look at that," James smiled, "We're at the bottom," he stood up as best as he could considering he was rather tall and the cab they were in was quite small, "Let's go home, yeah?"

Lily only nodded and took James's hand, as he grabbed their bag of prizes and other goods.

As he helped Lily out of the cab, the maintenance boy faked a pout at Lily, "Long ride, miss? 'Fraid of heights, are you? You're a bit flushed, that's why."

Lily looked at James, who was smirking.

She squeezes her eyes shut, before blinking at the boy, "I love ferris wheels."

James grinned victoriously, saluting the boy goodnight, "Night, mate."


End file.
